作者：Mike Rose

“我花了生日礼金，只能吃更廉价的午餐，还要求老婆付晚餐饭钱，好让我省下10-20美元的游戏零用钱。我想，我甚至没坐在游戏前都在想这回事。”（请点击此处阅读本文中篇、下篇）

Chris刚开始在《军团要塞2》（以下简称TF2）中花上几美元时正值20多岁的年龄。他所有的好友最近都搬离小镇，妻子的工作要上夜班，他不得不从TF2网络社区中寻找慰藉。

一开始他只是买了TF2中的“钥匙”，用它们打开一些道具板条箱，然后自己留下好东西，将其他内容分发给在线玩家。他喜欢这种赠予形式的社交互动，他所花的钱也看似非常值当。

但Chris很快就发现了他的首个“非常”道具（带有紫色烙印），他回忆称：“当时我简直欣喜若狂，从那时候开始一切开始改变了——我开始追求更高的目标。”

游戏成瘾

在这次发现的6个月之后，Chris发现自己的银行帐户已经分文不剩——所有的钱都被他用来寻找那些带有紫光的道具了。

“我的存款很快就花光了——虽然说我刚开始的时候也没有多少存款。真正麻烦的问题并不是它让我银行帐户空空，而是它让我陷入一个非常棘手的处境。因为没有钱买食物、交房租和水电，任何意外的开销对我来说都是一件大事。”

Chris在此过程中甚至还出现了一些健康问题，却发现自己无力支付医疗费用，因为他的存款都被TF2掏空了。

“事情甚至恶化到了Steam甚至拒绝我的信用卡帐户，认为我是盗了别人的帐号，我不得不通过客服告诉他们‘没错，这真的是我在花钱购买游戏中的帽子’，与其他上瘾的玩家一样，我的社交关系并没有派上任何用场—–我多数非工作交往的人脉都是在TF2上认识的人。在上班的时候我只想着打开箱子，而打开箱子时我就只想看到更好的结果。”

当他这种不可抑制的花钱开始影响到夫妻关系时，他才终于认识到应该来一个了断了。

“我从未对其他任何事情如此痴迷，所以我不能肯定地说一种‘真正的’上瘾是否会比这更强烈。我觉得这就像是一种强迫性的赌博瘾——社会压力迫使我去寻找自己无法重复获得的兴奋感，尽管它导致我的生活停滞不前。

“有些晚上我熬夜到凌晨3点，一边喝酒一边玩《军团要塞》，执拗地寻找那些带有紫色文本的帽子，忽略了赌徒谬论并发誓我再花50美元这次一定会赢。第二天早上醒来只发现我又为这些虚拟帽子花了100多美元，但却并没有达成自己的目标。”

有些早晨的感觉更加糟糕——自己的所做所为让Chris深恶痛绝。他会觉得极其沮丧和无助，并且发誓再也不回重蹈覆辙了……可一到发薪的时候，这些誓言又被抛到九宵云外了。

Chris此时的行为正是电子游戏行业称之为“鲸鱼”（在F2P游戏中大手笔地消费）用户的特点，他们实际上通过为99%一文不花的非付费用户平衡了F2P游戏的商业模式，使之具有持续可行性。

Chris虽然坦承这种成瘾行为部分要归咎于自己的错误行为，但也拷问：“难道建立于剥削像我这种‘鲸鱼’玩家的商业模式就没有一点责任吗。F2P游戏瞄准的并非手上有点闲钱的群体——而是意在让那些自控力差的人掏出上百美元。”

鲸鱼玩家

这正是我最近开始追踪F2P“鲸鱼”玩家，倾听他们的故事而开始进行的思考。我发现自己也在拷问究竟有多少F2P游戏开发者是围绕吸引意志薄弱者，并迫使他们对其成瘾，觉得有必要在其中投入大笔资金这一理念来设计游戏。

我着重思考的是这些“鲸鱼”玩家是否真的完全赞成为游戏投入成百上千美元，或者说他们是被那些意在令其觉得别无选择而不得不花钱的隐秘设计所操纵和剥削了。

这正是我在过去几个月开始搜索游戏论坛和社交媒体，询问玩家在F2P游戏中投入情况，以及他们为何做此选择的原因。

这里需要注意的是，有相当比例的“鲸鱼”玩家认为尽管自己投入成百上千美元，但这些钱花得很值当。有许多玩家花钱只是因为觉得自己可以拥有很多乐趣，并且也乐于向开发者付费。

其他玩家则告诉我，他们喜欢F2P模式，并且如果发现自己在游戏中投入过多，他们就会适时收手，及时退出。在这些受访者当中，消费意愿较高的用户占多数比例，而前文提到的Chris只是一小部分特例。

但我们在此关注的并非感觉被剥削与非被剥削用户的比例——而是假如一个商业模式会令最小部分的玩家失控并搞砸自己生活，那它就是一个必须面对（无论是行业还是政府干预）审查的商业模式。

虽然许多受访“鲸鱼”用户认为TF2是一款杀手级游戏，但Valve这款团队射击游戏却并非唯一被点名的F2P游戏。

Kyle将《Planetside 2》描述为“危险的游戏”，因为他深陷该游戏导致生活捉襟见肘。

他表示，“我现在的情况就是一发薪就去游戏中花钱，导致拖欠房租（今年1月开始已经连续好几个朋没交租）。”

“有些时候我发现自己居然还没钱吃饭，不得不连续一周吃拉面，吃不起正餐。”

他称这种即时满足的感觉令自己不断购买武器和装饰性道具，从而不知不觉中花费成百上千美元。

他补充表示，“如果你的装备即时到位了，你就可以马上启用。我不认为自己处于一种‘我非要这样东西不可，即使它令我拖欠房租’的情况——这是一种可以让我承受结果，其中的一点困难甚至会让我更感激之前所做所为的情况。”

Kyle并不后悔自己在《PlanetSide 2》中的投入，甚至认为：“我从不认为这些道具是一种投入，而更像是一种一性次娱乐产品，就好像电影票或者在一家精致餐馆的美妙晚餐，谁知道游戏能持续运营半年还是一年呢？”

他称“我认为这种消费方式让我觉得自己比实际情况更富有一些。在现实生活中我可能只有一辆破车和一间破旧的公寓，但在网络上我却拥有许多人都舍不得花钱买的华丽装备。这真是一种让你自我感觉良好的方式。”

战地英雄

《战地英雄》是另一款我采访鲸鱼玩家的过程中被提及的F2P游戏。与Kyle不同的是，John非常后悔自己在F2P游戏中的消费行为——他为这款游戏所着迷之时正做着一份兼职，后来在游戏中花掉了大部分薪水，总计超过2000美元。

他表示“我认为付费获胜是一种诱惑”。

我的调查并不仅局限于AAA级PC游戏——许多Nexo的F2P游戏的出现率也很高。有名玩家告诉我，他在《枫之谷》中消费约3000美元，其中有500美元用于创造游戏中的单件武器。但他认为自己不过是一个低端玩家，因为他认识不少在游戏中投入高达1万美元的玩家。

他现在还没有停手的意思，“装备磨损是无止境的，我现在暂时不玩游戏并不是因为钱的问题，而是要等待升级以及增加耗损上限，因为这是在韩国服务器中的情况。”

另一名玩家发现自己在《Mabinogi》这款Nexon游戏中投入超过5000美元，其中多用于购买装饰性道具。他表示，“有许多时候因为我在游戏中花钱，导致拖欠房租。但我也不知道这该不该怪游戏，如果我不在这款游戏中花钱，可能也会在其他东西上花钱。”

他称“也不能说我很后悔为游戏花钱。我很喜欢这款游戏，也很想念其中一起玩游戏的伙伴。五六千块钱买到这些乐趣也不算太奢侈。”

但他也承认这就像是上瘾一样。“购买点数，并将这些点数押在随机掉落道具上可以让我兴奋。”

我还遇到不少更耸人听闻的故事。有名自称Gladoscc的玩家告诉我，他曾经玩过一款网页MMO游戏《eRepublik》（要求玩家向他人发动战争），在其中花费超过3万美元。他称“这款游戏最邪恶的地方就在于，你得花钱来抵消敌人的花费。它是一款PVP游戏，其中的社交元素令我在游戏中逗留。”

就在他终于成功戒掉这个毛病的时候，有名随机陌生人在数周后加了他的Skype，这名陌生人居然就是《eRepublik》的开发者，他追踪了Gladoscc的详细信息，以便询问他为何退出游戏，并打算将其劝回游戏。

目前我听到的最糟糕的消息是，有名沉陷Facebook游戏《Mafia Wars》的妈妈玩家在其中投入了成千上万美元。她在游戏中越是投入，就越无法抽身退出，并且无心理会自己周围的生活。

她儿子的一名老友表示，“我记得最后一次去她家时，她整个房间堆满了成百上千个比萨盒、麦当劳的袋子。你一进门，就有恶臭扑鼻，虽然她一直呆在房间中。”

这名朋友甚至声称由于这名母亲一直在游戏中花钱，她儿子不得不去贩毒来支付房租和伙食费。

前F2P游戏公司员工的反馈

还有些自称曾经在F2P游戏公司就职，他们告诉我自己原先的雇主通常是以引诱这些“鲸鱼”为目的来设计游戏。

有一名曾是某F2P游戏公司的员工向我透露了一些惊人的幕后消息（在此我要隐去该公司名称，因为我认为这适用于许多游戏工作室）：“我曾经在X公司就职，我在那里薪水丰厚并获得了升迁。但我发现这家公司的游戏对人们的生活造成了极大的伤害。他们是为成瘾而设计游戏。公司会根据能够最大化玩家投入的时间和金钱的参数来设计游戏。这些游戏会找到并剥削合适的用户，然后将他们一点不剩地榨干。这与烟草行业并没有什么不同。”

该员工最终离开了这家公司，因为他为自己的所作所为而内疚——这种工作让他觉得自己的谋生基础是牺牲部分玩家的生活。——未完待续

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版本的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Chasing the Whale: Examining the ethics of free-to-play games

by Mike Rose

July 9, 2013

This story is being highlighted as one of Gamasutra’s best stories of 2013.

“I’d use birthday money, I’d eat cheaper lunches, I’d ask my wife to pay for dinner so I’d have a spare $10-$20 to spend in the store. Which does mean, I guess, that I was thinking about it even away from the game.”

Chris was in his mid-20s when he began spending a few dollars here and there on Team Fortress 2. All of his friends had recently moved out of town, and his wife was now working a nighttime job, leading him to take solace in an online TF2 community.

At first he’d simply buy some TF2 “keys”, use them to open some item crates, then dish some of the contents out to players online and keep the good stuff for himself. He enjoyed the social interactions that came with these giveaways, and it seemed worth it for the money he was paying.

But soon Chris discovered his first “unusual” item, marked with a purple seal. “I had this unbeatable rush of adulation and excitement,” he says. “For someone who didn’t get out much I was on cloud nine. And at that point things changed — I started chasing that high.”

Addict-to-play

For around six months following this discovery, Chris found himself draining his bank account until he didn’t have a spare dollar to his name — all for a selection of pixels that would hopefully be wrapped in a purple glow.

“My savings got wiped out pretty quickly — although it should be noted that at the time I didn’t have much put away to begin with,” he explains. “The real trouble wasn’t that it cleaned out my bank account, but that it put me in a really delicate situation. With no savings and every dollar not spent on food, shelter, or utilities going to digital hats, any unexpected expense became a really big deal.”

Chris even had a few health scares along the way, and found that he couldn’t afford to pay the medical bills because his savings account had been stripped for TF2 money.

“It got so bad that at one point Steam actually blocked my credit card, thinking I was some sort of account scammer, and I had to open a support ticket to tell them, ‘No, that really is me spending whatever savings I have on this stupid game with fake hats.’” he says. “And like any addicted user, my social element didn’t help — most of my outside-of-work contacts were people I just played TF2 with. At work I just wanted to be uncrating things, and when I was uncrating things I just wanted to see better results.”

It was when his out-of-control spending began to have an effect on his relationship with his wife, that Chris finally realized that this needed to stop.

“I’ve never really been addicted to anything else, so I can’t say for certain whether a ‘real’ addiction would be stronger,” he notes. “I would say that it felt akin to what I’d expect a compulsive gambling addiction would feel like — social pressures reinforced a behavior that kept me searching for an adrenaline rush I’d never be able to recapture, even as it kept me from making progress in life.”

“There were nights where I’d be up until 3 am drinking beer and playing Team Fortress and chasing those silly hats with purple text, ignoring the gambler’s fallacy and swearing that if I dropped another $50 I’d be sure to win this time,” he adds. “Then I’d wake up the next morning and see that I’d not only spent over a hundred dollars on digital hats, but failed my only objective by uncrating a bunch of junk.”

Those were the mornings that felt the worst — when the reality of what Chris was doing hit home the hardest. He’d feel hugely depressed and worthless, and swear to himself that he wouldn’t be back again… and yet, the moment another paycheck came through, it was gone as quickly as it came.

Chris’ behavior during this time is how people in the video game industry would describe a “whale”– someone who spends large amounts on free-to-play games, and essentially makes the business model viable by balancing out the 99 percent of players who don’t ever fork out a dime.

And while Chris is happy to admit that a portion of his addiction was no doubt down to his own silly mistakes, he reasons, “I have to question whether a business model built on exploiting ‘whales’ like me isn’t somewhat to blame. Free-to-play games aren’t after everyone for a few dollars — they’re after weak people in vulnerable states for hundreds, if not thousands.”

Whales in the woodwork

This exact musing is why I recently began tracking down free-to-play “whales” to hear their stories. I found myself questioning just how many free-to-play game developers are building their games around the concept of pulling vulnerable players in, and rendering them addicted to some banal yet compelling activity that they feel they must spend large portions of their money on.

In particular, I pondered whether these “whale” players are fully consenting to the hundreds and thousands of dollars that they are spending, or whether they are being manipulated and exploited by underhanded design that purposely aims to make the player feel like they simply have no choice.

That’s why I began trawling game forums and social media over the last couple of months, asking players how much they spent on free-to-play games, and why they chose to do so.

It must be noted at this point that a good portion of the “whale” correspondence I received was from players who felt that, despite spending in the thousands, they had got their money’s worth. To many players, they had simply spent a lot of money because they were having lots of fun, and felt that they were happy to throw cash at the developer.

Other players also told me that they loved the free-to-play model, and that if they ever did feel like they were spending too much on these games, they could easily stop any time they wanted. There are plenty of happy free-to-play customers out there, and the aforementioned story from Chris only makes up a very tiny portion of the tales I received.

But it could be argued that to focus on the ratio of exploited to non-exploited customers is to completely miss the point — that a business model where even the smallest portion of players can find themselves losing control and essentially ruining their lives, is a model that must surely face scrutiny, whether on a industry or governmental level.

Although Team Fortress 2 was brought up by many of my “whale” respondents as a real killer, Valve’s team-based shooter was far from the only title named.

Kyle describes PlanetSide 2 as his “danger game,” thanks to the financial situations his obsession with the game put him in.

“I’m in a position where I’m living paycheck to paycheck for the moment as the result of that spending — beyond incurring overdraft for my rent (for a few months in a row starting in January this year and a couple other scattered times),” he says.

“There were a few times I found I ran short for food budget and had to eat ramen for a week instead of something decent,” he adds.

He says that the feeling of instant gratification, allowing him to purchase weapons and cosmetic items with a couple of clicks, is what lead him to spend in the hundreds.

“You know you’re getting your stuff right there on the spot, and you can do whatever you want with it right away,” he says, adding, “I don’t think I ever found myself in a position where I said ‘I really need to have this one thing, even though it will put me over for rent’ — it was more a case of deciding I could ride out the consequences and that a mild amount of hardship might even make me appreciate what I obtained even more.”

Kyle doesn’t regret his PlanetSide 2 spending, however: “I never thought of the items as investments, more like disposable entertainment, like movie tickets or a night at a nice restaurant, because when it comes to free-to-play, who knows if the game is going to be around in six months or a year?”

He adds, “Now that I think about it a bit, it’s almost a way for me personally to feel a bit richer than I really am. I might have an older car and a bit of a run down apartment, but online I’ve got all this nice swag that lots of people aren’t willing to spend on. It’s a nice way to make yourself feel special.”

Heroes of spending

Battlefield Heroes was another free-to-play game brought up on my journey to find big spenders. Unlike Kyle, John hugely regrets his free-to-play spending — he was working a part-time job at the time that he became addicted to Heroes, and he ended up splashing out the majority of his paychecks on the game, spending over $2,000 in total.

“I would call it the creme of the crop in terms of pay-to-win,” he says.

My research didn’t just focus on triple-A PC games either — many of Nexon’s free-to-play titles came up numerous times. One player told me that he has spent around $3,000 on MapleStory, including dropping a whole $500 in an attempt to create a single weapon in the game. But he says that he is easily one of the lower-end players, and that he regularly talks to people who have spent upwards of $10,000 on the game.

“It’s pretty much for more numbers, if I had a gun put to my head,” he says — and he’s not done yet. “The gear grind is pretty much infinite, and the only reason I’m not playing right now isn’t because of the money, but because I’m waiting for the level expansion as well as a raised damage cap, which are out in the Korean server but not the global one.”

Another player I talked to found themselves spending more than $5,000 on a Nexon game called Mabinogi, mainly on cosmetic items. “There were plenty of times when the rent would go unpaid because I had spent the money on the game instead,” he says. “However, I don’t know if I can blame the game for that. If I hadn’t spent the money on Mabinogi, I would have spent it on something else.”

“I can’t say I really regret the spending,” he says. “I loved the game, and I still miss the friends I played with. Five or six grand isn’t too much to pay for the amount of happiness I got out of it.”

However, he admits that it definitely felt like an addiction. “Both buying the points, and gambling those points on random drops would give me a rush,” he says.

I also came across numerous far more outlandish stories. One player, who called himself Gladoscc, told me that he used to play a web-based MMO called eRepublik, in which players waged wars against each other.

In total, Gladoscc spent more than $30,000 on the game. “The geniusly evil part about eRepublik is that you have to spend money in order to neutralize the enemy’s money,” he says. “It’s spreadsheet PVP, though. The social aspect is what kept me in.”

When he managed to finally kick the habit, a random stranger added him veryon Skype weeks later, only to discover that it was the creator of eRepublik. He had hunted down Gladoscc’s details so he could ask him why he had quit, and try to entice him back.

By far the worst story I discovered was that of a mother who became addicted to Mafia Wars on Facebook, and ended up sinking tens of thousands of dollars into it. As her obsession grew, she began to withdraw into the game and care little about the life going on around her.

“The last time I can remember going over, her entire room was filled with just hundreds of pizza boxes and McDonalds bags,” says an old friend of her son. “When you enter the house, the smell just smacks you in the face, even though she basically just stays in her room.”

The friend even alleges that as a direct result of the mother succumbing to the allure of spending more and more on the game, her son ended up dealing drugs simply so he could afford to keep payments up on the house and keep food on the table.

Ex-free-to-play

I also received messages from people who claimed to be ex-employees at free-to-play companies, and who told me that their respective employers would often build games purposely to entrap these “whales.”

One such response in particular (for which I was able to verify the respondent as having worked at the company he named) gave a stark picture of what’s going on behind the scenes. I’ve chosen to blank out the name of the company as I see this as being able to apply to multiple game studios, rather than just the one discussed.

“I used to work at [company], and it paid well and advanced my career,” the person told me. “But I recognize that [company]‘s games cause great harm to people’s lives. They are designed for addiction. [company] chooses what to add to their games based on metrics that maximize players’ investments of time and money. [company]‘s games find and exploit the right people, and then suck everything they can out of them, without giving much in return. It’s not hard to see the parallels to the tobacco industry.

This employee chose to leave the company as a direct result of feeling dishonest due to the work being done — feeling like they were making the lives of a select few players worse.（source：gamasutra）